Beyond Deltora
by Mihloa
Summary: While Leif is turned into an ol, Jasmine is kidnapped and taken to the shadowlands.
1. Chapter 1

Night fell over the peaceful palace of Dell, but from one of the highest rooms a window shone brightly. Inside stood the King and Queen of Del as the gazed inside the crib of their baby boy. The little bedroom was painted light blue with few decorations but many toys. The simplicity helped to give an expression of sweetness.

"Oh Lief, he looks just like you," Jasmine said for the thousandth time as she leaned into the padded cradle, reaching out her hand to lightly brush the little face of the sleeping baby.

Leif smiled, staring at his son fondly. "But he has black hair just like you," came the well-used reply. The pair tarried for a minute longer, Jasmine gazing with love at her little son, drinking in his sight and essence with the nearly unmatchable love of a mother. Contentment and thankfulness swelled within both the King and Queen of Deltora. 'I'm glad I found all the gems for the belt,' Lief thought.Then he laughed out loud at the understating thought as he put an arm around Jasmines shoulders.

"I must go to bed now," Jasmine said after a moment, with a sigh of sudden weariness.

"Yes," Leif agreed, concerned. "You need to sleep and get well." Jasmine had been weak lately and Leif worried about the threat of fever. "I will stay with the baby for awhile."

After Jasmine had left, Leif slumped down into a chair in the corner and pressed his hands against his aching temples. Leif appreciated the company of his loved ones, but he had needed to be alone, to release his stress agony and not have to pretend in front of others that everything was alright.

Something was happening inside of him. Something that continued everyday from the moment he woke, and all through the sleepless, agonizing nights. It was as though he was being torn in half, or like something was fighting inside of him. But it did not hurt, it was much worse than that. An overwhelming, terrible sensation that came from the soul.

Liefs arm was burning at that moment- but no, it was cold. Cold to the bone; burning with cold. Sometimes the coldness would fade. Other times, like now, it would flare up and spread through his whole body, seeming to reach his core.Where had he felt that coldness? He thought of a scene long ago, during the quest for the belt of deltora. It was a terrifying scene, though just one of many; an evil creature like a grinning white flame had held him by the arm, and Jasmine by the neck, bent on killing.

That creature had chilled him to the bone, and now a coldness even more intense spread over and into Lief until he felt like a flame burning of cold instead of heat. It lasted for a minute, growing more and more intense until Lief wondered if it was going to kill him. And then suddenly, it was gone. Leif would have sighed with relief, but he realized in puzzlement that he was incapable of sighing at all.

Then the door opened. The baby's plump old nurse stood in the opening, head bent. She looked up, at Lief, and her eyes, terrified, suddenly widened into saucers.

"Ol!" She screamed.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ol?" Leif echoed. He spun around, but there was nothing there. He looked all around the room, but saw nothing strange. Still the woman stood with an expression of greatest shock and terror. Despite this terror, she rushed to the crib, avoiding Lief, scooped up the babe and fled the room. Thinking back later, Lief realized how brave the woman had been.

Taking her place in the doorway came the fearsome Doom, looking as wild and battle-ready as ever. To liefs shock, he sneered at the King of Deltora with hate in his eyes and slid his sword from the hilt, wielding it as he closed in on Leif.

"Doom!" Cried Lief, backing up. With this, Doom struck out, the sword slashing at Liefs right side. Lief ducked and narrowly missing the blade to his chest, was hit in the side of his head, yet he felt no pain, and there was no injury. Dismayed more from this than from Dooms behavior, Lief slid along the wall and out of the room with surprising quickness, ignoring Dooms cry of rage.

'Doom has gone mad.' Lief thought, dismayed. 'Jasmine will know what to do,' Lief decided, reasoning that maybe she could get through to him in his madness. With four years of palace life and experiencing the tender love for a child, Jasmine was not quite as fierce as she once was, and had grown a little closer to Doom. Though the two still respected each other as they used too, and Doom never showed it even as a wolf never shows its fear or weakness, Leif was sure that Doom loved his daughter. So Leif slipped into his and Jasmines' bedroom, expecting quiet and peaceful darkness. But what he found was a scene of terror.

At the other side of the room, in front of the large open window; its panes intricately carved into elegant symbols of the royal family, stood Jasmine, her eyes closed not so much against the cold breeze that gently ruffled the silken white curtains and gown and caused her crown of long black hair- the only dark element on a figure of white- to blow softly around her face; but her eyes were closed against the grief that welled in her heart. The simple white gown, light and frilled here and there, was ripped at the bottom where she had stepped on it during her fight.

Jasmine was being held firmly at the arms by two burly men that towered over her, their faces shadowed by hoods, their cloaks grey. A bruise was already forming on her face. Speaking to her, his back to Lief, was a third figure, smaller than the others, loosely holding a thin sword pointed at the ground.

"Now Queen of Deltora, where is your husband? Where is your son? Tell me, or die."

"Then I'll die," snorted the queen of deltora. If the situation had not been so deadly, Lief would have smiled. This was the same Jasmine he had found in the Forests of Silence not so long ago.

But Lief was far from smiling.

"Jasmine," Lief cried out before he could stop himself. The man that was speaking turned and looked at him. Leif gasped. He was identical to the man who had questioned his father when he had been imprisoned in the shadow lands, therefore identical to the man who had been the supervisor that led astray King Endon long ago. He was a servant of the Shadow Lord, and he bore the features that the shadow lord admired and had put into every traitorous chief advisor for every previous king of Deltora.

The servant of the shadow lord had a queer expression on his face at the sight of Leif, but Leif did not see this, because the look of hate that radiated from Jasmine as she looked at Lief broke his heart. 'She blames me for this,' Lief grieved when suddenly, from outside there was a bloodcurdling screech; the man gave an order that Lief in his dismayed trance never heard, and Jasmine was thrown out the window.

"Noo!" Lief screamed. He violently pushed aside the man and kicked, shoved aside the others as he threw his head out the window. The dewy rosebushes glittered far away at the foot of the palace under the window. But there was no Jasmine down there. Jasmine was flying away, as Lief could barely see even in the moonlight, on the back of a grizzly Ak-Baba.

"That is my backup plan," said the servant of the shadow lord, as Lief stood rigid, still looking out the window. "We will easily be able to find the young King of Del, and also the heir to the belt. But if not, we have the Queen as bait. I'm quite sure, certain in fact, that the foolish King will come to rescue her himself."

"It is all-" The minion of the shadow Lord continued, but could not finish, because an icy hand was suddenly wrapped around his throat.


	3. Chapter 3

Doom and Barda stormed into the royal bedroom as the cloaked man fell to the floor. The ol slipped out the window. Quick as lightening, Doom had his sword across the throat of one of the men at the window. Barda was quick to follow with the other one. Doom threw the hood from his captives head. His eyes widened as he recognized the face of a palace guard. Barda, also shocked, removed the hood of the second cloaked man, revealing another palace guard.

"Could it be that even now we have traitors in our midst?" He muttered in awe.

"Tell me, scum, what you have done with the King and Queen?" Doom demanded in a controlled voice, glaring into the traitor's eyes.

The ex-palace guard swallowed audibly. Then began, "we were protecting them. We-" he ended off in a whimper as Dooms sword was pressed just deep enough to draw a little blood.

"Queen Jasmine is being taken to the shadow lands," the other traitor burst out in a tremulous voice. "They are using her as bait to get to King Lief. They want to destroy the royal family so that there will be no king to wear the belt of deltora, ever again."

Doom stared long into the man's eyes. "Very well," he said. A group of palace guards had gathered behind them and were assembled at the end of the room. To these, he said, "take these traitors out of my sight. Lock them up and throw away the key."

With that, after the guards had left, Doom and Barda stood alone, gazing out the window in silence. "Where is the babe?" Barda muttered.

"He has been sent with his nurse to live under the disguise of an ordinary citizen of del. Just like his father before him." Doom turned to walk out of the room, but paused at the door. "We'll have everyone search for Lief. It is very strange that he did not come when he heard the chaos and I think that something is wrong. Tomorrow I will leave for the Shadow lands."

"I will go to the shadow lands," Barda argued. "You must stay and see to things here."

"Not this time," Doom replied darkly. "This time we will be dealing with the Shadow Lord himself."


	4. Chapter 4

The ol that was Lief hid that night in the thick bushes that lined the back wall of the palace of Del. It was such a beautiful place- the grounds falling into a long slope to the high brick gate, over which, on his higher ground, Lief could see the coast of Del, glittering like a dark sapphire in the bright moonlight. The small, elegant boats of dell bobbed upon its rippled surface and the lulling sound was comforting to Liefs troubled heart.

He figured that the touch of an ol was like the bite of a werewolf- though the same transformation had not happened to Barda or Jasmine, who had also been touched; it was the only conclusion he could come to. Lief thought he would look around in the palace library someday, but then he remembered that ols weren't aloud in the palace. An ol was a creature of pure evil. Ols were bred for evil. The knowledge grieved Leif. How could an ol be the king of Deltora?

But none of this mattered. He had to save Jasmine. First he needed to change into his old shape. Lief did not really know how to do this, but he closed his eyes and imagined himself, emulating the feeling of being in the form of King Leif. A strange, internal sensation swept over him and when he opened his eyes to look at his hand, it was made of the familiar strong, tan flesh.

With this, Leif turned and ran from behind the castle, across the palace grounds to the stable. At the end of the first row of stalls was the roomy box stall that contained his frisky, faded-black stallion, Starfire. The horse- very large and standing far above Leif, well-muscled though light in structure, rushed to greet his master as he entered the stall, tossing his head and his mane from out of his eyes and revealing the small white, star-like shape on his horsey forehead. Leif slapped the sinewy neck affectionately, staring into the black eyes for a second before throwing on the plain saddle and saddle pad that were always ready in the stall, buckling the girth and then the bridle. Starfire bobbed his head as he was led from his stall.

But as he was exiting the stable, Leif realized something. He didn't need to ride a horse- he was an ol and could change into a horse, or even a bird to fly to the shadowlands. The thought made him nervous, not just because it was something new to him. Ils were evil. Leif was not sure he wanted to use an ol's powers.

'I'll wait,' Leif thought. 'I'll think about it. A horse, natural and good, is fast enough in the meantime'

With that, he mounted his steed, who, with very little urging, broke into from a trot to a canter, to a steady gallop, from the palace grounds, from the peaceful, quiet city, and into the plains beyond.


End file.
